Pierre Perrault

Pierre Perrault (c. 1608, in Paris – 1680, in Paris) was a Receiver General of Finances for Paris and later a scientist who developed the concept of the hydrological cycle. He and Edme Mariotte were primarily responsible for making hydrology an experimental science.

Life

Perrault grew up in a bourgeois family, had at least seven siblings, and probably lived all his life in Paris. Little is known about his life, despite the fame of some of his younger brothers. These include Claude, an architect of part of the Louvre Palace; Nicholas, a doctor of theology known for his denunciation of the Jesuits; and Charles, author of Tales of Mother Goose. published anonymously in 1674 and dedicated to his friend Christiaan Huygens.